by Gilles Bourdeau

Gilles Bourdeau, ofm, is the Director of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montreal.

Ce document est aussi disponible en français : Situations et défis oecuméniques au Canada.htm.

The Canadian Centre for Ecumenism has entered its fortieth year of existence and service. In a recent reflection, I referred to this as forty years of the future! But is this really true? I have ventured into the areas of evaluation and prophecy, two ways of seeing that generally demand more exploration than these few words, written in haste, which risk being a facile self-evaluation.

It was our own story that made us think of embarking on a Canada-wide effort to canvas others for their reflections. Why not mark our Fortieth Anniversary with a special double issue of Ecumenism that would confront the need for a review of the current state of ecumenical affairs? What you have in your hands and before your eyes is intended to be a thoughtful contribution to the ecumenical adventure of these present times.

After an article by Irénée Beaubien, the founder of the Centre, who guides us through the early days of the Centre's history and the setting of its itinerary, we will take a nation-wide overview of ecumenical situations and challenges in Canada. Our approach is a simple one. We have the pleasure of receiving and publishing collaborations from people who are active in ecumenism from every province and territory of Canada. Each article follows an identical pattern.

First, a look back at the past decade in response to the question: what facts and observations deserve our attention in the ecumenical experience of the past ten years? Each author evokes key experiences, theological reflections, social and cultural commitments, prayer and spirituality. Then the question shifts to the decade ahead: what are the most obvious challenges facing ecumenism in the next ten years?

For this issue, we wanted to give First Nations people and each province and territory of Canada an opportunity to offer their analysis and perspective. Along with some statistical data, we travel from east to west, and then wind up our journey in the north. We could have opted for a reading of the situation from a denominational viewpoint, and we did seriously consider this. But it occurred to us to offer our readers and other interested parties a rarer glimpse into what is happening in Canada and to reconstruct certain features of the ecumenical landscape by using cultural and socio-political realities as reference points.

We do not claim to be exhaustive. The authors you will discover were willing volunteers in this enterprise, and were frank about the specificity and the modesty of their analyses and projections. One thing is for certain: the final result resembles an impressive mosaic. Thank you to all our collaborators who took up the challenge of offering our churches a wonderful gift of reflection and prophecy on the occasion of the Centre's Fortieth Anniversary. We are presenting you with no less a challenge: to use these words as a springboard for reaction and dialogue. Come, join us on the journey!